Monthly Archives: February 2008

Revell, Innovation First, Inc., Robot magazine and SolidWorks Corporation, with Grant Imahara, are pleased to announce the Grant Imahara VEXplorer Robot Challenge. Grant Imahara is one of the hosts of Discovery Channel's hit television show Mythbusters. He is a special effects expert who has worked on some of the most famous robots in history, such as R2-D2 and The Energizer Bunny, and is the author of Kickin' Bot, a book that explains how to build your own combat robot. This contest will give 25 robot enthusiasts a chance to compete for a $5,000 scholarship grand prize and various other prizes.

And what, pray tell, is Vex? Imagine building your own robot from Erector-esque metal girders and plates. You get to learn about how the gears work, configure tires (rubber tires or plastic treads, small or large?) and program the microcontroller to obey your commands. Everything about Vex (particularly the Vex Robotics Starter Kit) is optimized for educational users. (Pure hobbyists might prefer the Vexplorer.)

Geekdad has a pretty awesome article about VEX and they even link to the video I edited of the Vex Walker. I don't know when the Walker will make it to market but it will be cool when it does.

The Vex RCR Mini should be on the market in August and it will be a seriously cool kit. The Mini beams have half the hole pitch of the regular Vex so it will be easy to build a bot that is half the size of the Vexplorer.

I am offended by people who think they have a right not to be offended.

What kind of world would we live in if this were true. If you honestly had a right not to be offended then someone could enact a law making it illegal to offend you. How long would it take before we're all locked up? You offend me by being offended by my actions so we both broke the law.

Seriously people, if you are offended by something, ignore it and move on. Life is way too short to go around pissing and moaning about who said what and who believes different than you. You have the right to be offended, and I have the right to offend you. The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America guarantees that.

With regard to other countries that do not have a similar document guaranteeing freedom of speech, you cannot control what happens outside your political boundaries and it is foolish to think you can.

I took the time to watch the show last night and it was enjoyable. I'll give it a thumbs up. There were a lot of corny tech bits, plenty of unbelievable stuff, and crazy plot connections, but it was fun and entertaining.